Purification
by Deneve the Claymore
Summary: When a shinigami decides to banish the evidence of Soul Society's secrets, Ichigo and his friends find themselves in a new dimension. There they must join with the inhabitants to protect themselves from the dangers of that world, dangers that threaten the existence of everyone.
1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure this is right?" a skinny person in black robes asks. " _Yes. Seireitei must move on. To move on, we must remove the reminders of dark deeds."_ There doesn't seem to be anyone speaking these words. "Ok. I trust you." The figure pulls out a small sword and starts swinging it in a circle. A small hole starts swirling in front of it, and the figure starts chanting. "To a dimension, Vizards shall go. To a dimension, traitors shall go. To a dimension, Ryoka shall go. In a dimension, all shall stay." The hole flares larger, then winks out of existence. The figure sighs, and sheathes the sword. _"_ _You did the right thing."_ "I know, but I wonder what will happen to them." _"_ _They will fade from memory here, and their sacrifice will allow Seireitei to become the sole power again."_

In Soul Society

"Where did the paperwork go?!" Kensei yells. A short girl with green hair giggles. "You're so funny when you're stressed, Kensei!" "It's not funny Mashiro, I need to turn it in tonight!" Kensei lunges for Mashiro, and Hisagi grabs him. "Captain, it's fine, I already filled it out. You just have to sign it." Kensei stops struggling, and Hisagi lets go of him. Hisagi hands the papers to Kensei, and Mashiro pouts. "Awww, why do you have to be so good, Hisagi?" Kensei laughs. "He acts the way a lieutenant should, Mashiro." She flares up. "Oh yeah? Well I'm a Super Lieutenant, and Hisagi's just a…" a hole appears around Kensei and Mashiro and slams shut, then vanishes. Hisagi whips out his zanpakuto, but nothing else appears. He shoves his zanpakuto back in his sheath, and runs to find a senior captain, his mind racing. " _where did Kensei go?"_

In Karakura Town

"Orihime, what type of sauce is this?" Uryu holds up a bowl of ice cream with a dark brown sauce on it. "Oh, it's soy sauce mixed with chocolate syrup and cocoa powder. I made it yesterday and thought it was delicious, so I invited you guys over so you could try it as well!" Uryu, Chad, Ichigo, and Tatsuki stare at their ice cream, but Yuzu grabs her spoon and takes a big bite. Her face lights up. "Orihime, this is delicious! The soy sauce and cocoa powder are wonderful, and the chocolate sauce makes it super sweet!" Karin takes a small bite of her ice cream and swallows quickly. Her expression flickers, and she looks at Orihime. "It's actually good. I think it goes really well with mint chocolate chip." Orihime grins. "Yay, I'm so glad you guys like it! I liked it, so I thought you guys would like it, but then I thought, what if they don't like sweet things as much as I do? Because I never see Ichigo eat anything sweet, and I've only seen Chad and Uryu eat sweet things a couple times, so I wasn't sure whether I should invite you over for it or not…" "

Do you think we should try it?" Uryu whispers to Chad. Chad shrugs, and picks up his bowl. Yuzu puts down her bowl, which is scraped clean. "Orihime, could I help you cook next time? Maybe we could make an entire meal together!" "That would be great! We could do a dumpling and egg roll soup, and maybe a…" a hole forms around Orihime and Uryu and closes, and they disappear. "Orihime!" Ichigo yells, but a second hole forms around him and Chad, and closes as well. Tatsuki jumps up, but nothing else happens. "Where'd everybody go?" Yuzu asks. Karin goes to the window, but there's nothing out there. Tatsuki grabs Karin and Yuzu and pushes them out of the room. "We've got to get you two back to your father now." "But what about Ichigo and the others?" Karin and Yuzu ask. Tatsuki frowns. "I'll find someone who can tell me where they went." Yuzu starts crying, and Karin looks at Tatsuki. "Don't worry. They'll keep each other safe." Tatsuki looks at the sky and glares. _"You'd better not make me a liar, guys."_

In another dimension

Clare freezes, and Helen yelps. "Jeez Clare, pay attention! I could've skewered you!" Clare doesn't answer, and Helen walks closer. "Are you ok?" "Something's arrived." Clare says. "What do you mean?" "Several beings with high Yoki levels just appeared close by." Helen grabs an apple out of her pack and takes a bite. "Let's go tell the others then." Clare and Helen sheath their swords and walk out of the clearing while Helen offers Clare an apple.


	2. Chapter 2

Hiyori sits up and rubs her head, groaning. "Stupid headache, why do I keep getting headaches when I don't even drink." She rubs her eyes and then slams them shut against the bright sunlight. She looks around and realizes that she's somewhere she doesn't recognize. It doesn't look anything like Karakura Town, it actually looks town-less. Suddenly Hiyori remembers what happened. She'd been walking to the store with Lisa and had been calling her baldy because she wouldn't loan Hiyori any money, when it was like she had suddenly walked into a ball of black, icy water. Hiyori stands up, and realizes that she might need to think later. About 50 yards away there were a group of armed men, and they were looking at something on the ground. Hiyori looked and saw it was Lisa, unfortunately still passed out. One of the men pointed at her, and another started walking towards her.

Hiyori pulled out her zanpakuto and Shunpoed to stand over Lisa. The man leapt back, and they all pulled out their swords. Hiyori grinned. "Sorry to interrupt, but this happens to be a friend of mine, and I can't just let you have her." The men look at her, then at one in the center. He steps forward and says something, but Hiyori doesn't understand a word. "What?" The man gestures emphatically at Lisa then through the trees behind him. "Sorry, didn't catch that." Hiyori bends down and shoves Lisa onto her shoulder, then turns around. One man tries to grab her by the arm, so Hiyori jumps and plants both feet in his face and sends him flying. Others start forward, but the one who tried to talk to Hiyori waves them back. Hiyori starts walking away from them, wondering where in the world they could possibly be.

"So you can sense a group of beings close to us?" Miria asks Clare. "Yes, but they haven't moved at all since I first sensed them." "There's a larger group towards the south, there's four of them now but two more are heading towards them and will join them soon." Cynthia and Yuma add as they join the group. "Can you sense anything about them?" Deneve asks. "Most of them are still unconscious, but from what we can sense they don't feel like Awakened Beings or yoma." Cynthia replies.

"Should we investigate the smaller group first?" Deneve asks. "If they're hostile it will be easier to kill them if we take the smaller group first." Helen interjects. Miria nods. "True, but we should check the larger group first to see if they have hostile intentions. Helen, you, Clare, Cynthia, and Yuma will go investigate the larger group of beings. Deneve and I will find a Claymore to spread the word that there are new beings which should be avoided."

"OOOF!" Ichigo's eyes fly open as something hits him in the ribs. "Wake up, stupid!" a familiar voice yells. Ichigo rolls away and crashes into Uryu, who sits up and grabs his glasses before Ichigo crushes them. "Watch it Ichigo! You almost crushed my glasses." Ichigo sits up. "Sorry Uryu." Ichigo stands up but staggers backwards when the person kicks him again. "What, Hiyori!?" Ichigo looks at her than does a double take and looks around. "Wait, we were at Orihime's, but now we're in a forest? And you're here?" "That's right, baldy, and all the others are here too." Hiyori walks over to Orihime and Chad who are just getting up. "All your friends are here, and there are others as well."

Uryu pushes his glasses up onto his nose and stands up. "That doesn't make any sense. How could we all just vanish from wherever we were and end up here. And you said others? Are you sure?" Hiyori looks at him and scowls. "Can't you feel them? Their reiatsu is all over the place." Uryu blinks. "Now that you mention it, I can feel reiatsu to the north and west." Someone groans and Hiyori turns around. "About time you woke up, I was getting tired of carrying you everywhere." Lisa sits up and rubs her head. "Where are we?" "I have no idea." Hiyori snaps. Lisa stands up. "You don't have to bite my head off, Hiyori."

She looks around. "Does anyone know where we are?" Uryu shakes his head. "This place doesn't seem to be anywhere in Karakura Town or Soul Society." Orihime looks around. "It feels strange." Hiyori looks at her. "What do you mean?" "I can feel creatures, but they don't feel like Hollows or Shinigami or anything else I know." Chad looks around. "So we're somewhere we don't know surrounded by officer-level creatures?" Hiyori puts her hand on her zanpakuto. "We don't need that right now, Hiyori." Lisa says. "We haven't met anyone and we aren't sure if they're hostile." Hiyori shakes her head.

"We won't be able to tell if they're hostile unless they attack us." The group looks at her. "When I picked up Lisa someone tried to talk to me, and I couldn't understand a word they said." Ichigo shrugs. "Then we just avoid contact with them." He starts walking into the woods, and the others look at each other. "Ichigo?" Orihime calls. "What?" Ichigo says. "You're walking the wrong way. If we want to avoid them then we need to go this way." She points to the east. "Ok, then we go that way." Ichigo turns around and starts walking that way, and Uryu looks at Hiyori and adjusts his glasses. "It will be better for both of us if we stay with the others." He says. Hiyori nods and they follow the others into the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

Cynthia stops, and Yuma looks up. Clare notices them and looks back. "What is it?" she says. "They're moving now." Yuma says. Helen stops walking and glances at them. "Which way are they going?" Cynthia closes her eyes and frowns. "They're heading to the east. Towards where the Organization was." Helen frowns. "Why would they be heading in that direction? Are they really so stupid they'd head towards the place where Awakened Beings hang out?" Helen starts to stomp away, and Yuma calls after her. "Where are you going?" "To save the stupid idiots. Miria would never forgive me if I let them walk into an Awakened Being's stomach." Yuma and Clare look at Cynthia, who shrugs. "It's true. We'd better go too, or Helen's going to end up challenging every single Awakened Being on the east section of the island." "How long will it take for us to reach them?" Clare asks as they follow Helen. "We should meet them in two days, as they reach the Organization's headquarters."

"Ichigo!" Ichigo looks back and trips over a root. "What!?" he snaps. "It's getting dark. We need to set up a camp." Lisa snapped back. "What are you talking about? It's not dark at all." Something slams into Ichigo's head and sends him flying. "You idiot!" Hiyori shouted. "You just tripped over a root! We don't know what lives here and you want to go wandering around in the dark?! Are you really that dumb, baldy?!" Ichigo stands up and looks around. "Fine, snaggletooth! We'll set up a camp!" Hiyori grabs her sandal and steps forward. "Oh yeah berry-head? If I wasn't here you'd go wandering all around and probably get yourself eaten by the first creature you met!" "As if!" Ichigo yelled back. "I don't need to make a camp, and I'm only doing it because you said so, and the others probably need to rest!" Hiyori grins. "So that means I'm the leader, then?" Ichigo gapes at her. "What?! I never said…!" Lisa walks away as they continue arguing and heads back to the others, who already have a fire going.

"What are they arguing about?" Orihime asks as she sits down. "They're just being themselves. It's fine." Lisa looks around. "Do we have any food?" "Uryu shot a bird, but that's all." Lisa looks at Uryu. "You shot a bird?" Uryu nods. "unfortunately I overestimated the bird's ability to resist my arrow, so… it's already gutted. "And skinned." Chad adds. "And headless." Orihime chimes. "Ok! She gets it!" Uryu says. Lisa laughs, and takes a piece from the rock in the center of the fire. "We should set up a watch for tonight. " I'll go first." Uryu says. "I don't have a problem with that." Hiyori says, sitting down on the other side of the fire. "It means I get to sleep more." Ichigo sits down next to Uryu, "I'll take the next watch, and how about you take the next one, Lisa?" She nods, and Orihime asks, "What about me?" Hiyori grins. "That means you and I get to sleep all night!" Orihime looks at Ichigo. "But, if I can help…" she mumbles. "Its fine Orihime, we'll have to walk a lot tomorrow so you should get some sleep." he says. She nods and lays down next to the fire, and Hiyori lays down on the other side next to Lisa. "Good night Ichigo." Good night Orihime." As she closes her eyes she sees Chad walk over to Ichigo and ask a question, but she's asleep before he answers.

Cynthia opens her eyes, and immediately knows it's a dream. The sky keeps flickering from a very pretty blue to the more standard grayish blue she knows. A sword swings towards her and she dodges. She looks and Yuma is standing next to her. Cynthia grabs her sword and swings back at her, and Yuma blocks it. They keep exchanging blows, but Cynthia can tell it's just a practice bout. " _Why am I dreaming this? I've never had a dream like this before."_ She's just about to walk away when Yuma looks towards the east and frowns. "Do you feel that?" She asks. Cynthia closes her eyes and notices it. There's something in that direction letting off power. "It doesn't feel like it's attacking." Yuma says. Cynthia shakes her head. "No, but they're doing something with their power." They sheath their swords and start walking towards the source of the power. "Did you notice, Yuma?" Cynthia asks. "What?" "This power feels more similar to our yoki manipulation than any other Claymore abilities." Yuma nods. "Maybe the abilities are similar." They come over the ridge of the hill in front of them and see the source of the power. A girl with vibrant orange hair is standing at the bottom, and she seems to be practicing her abilities.

Orihime was enjoying herself. She knew it was a dream, but she was still able to practice, and she had just thought of a new technique that would be able to keep them away from the creatures in this land. She grinned. "This will make Ichigo so happy! I can tell where sources of spiritual pressure and this new energy are so we can avoid them!" She spreads her hands out in front of her. "Tsubaki! Single Sensor!" Tsubaki forms in front of her and starts flying a pattern in front of her. Almost immediately he turns back, and Orihime frowns. "Orihime! There's two creatures right above you!" He shouts as he flies back. Orihime steps back and looks up, and sees two figures standing at the top of the hill in front of her. Her eyes widen as the figures jump down, and suddenly one reaches out their hand and catches Tsubaki as he flies by them. "Tsubaki!" Orihime screams.


	4. Chapter 4

Orihime runs forward, then stops. "Tsubaki!" she says again. "Be quiet Orihime and tell me to attack!" Tsubaki shouts. "Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun!" Tsubaki's shield flares into existence, but a silvery aura forms around the figure's hand and Tsubaki. "Orihime! I can't extend my shield!" Tsubaki yells. Orihime looks at the figure with tears in her eyes. "Don't hurt him, please." The figure looks at her and says something. "What?" Orihime looks from one to the other. "I can't understand you." She says. She notices that both of them seemed to be human, and were completely dressed in armor, with giant swords slung over their backs. Then she blinked. "You're girls?" The women look at each other, then the second one extends her hand over Tsubaki, and the silvery aura around Tsubaki thickens, with veins of blue running through it. Orihime runs forward, but the first woman holds up her hand. "My name is Cynthia, and my companion is Yuma." Yuma nods, and Orihime stares. "Oh! I'm sorry, my name is Orihime Inoue." She looks at Tsubaki. "Are you hurting him?" "No, I merely allowed my yoki and Yuma's to recognize and learn yours. With that I was able to cause our auras to mingle so we could talk." She extends her hand towards Orihime. "You should be able to do it as well now. Try it." The aura around Tsubaki faded and he flew back to Orihime and merged with her hairpins. Orihime touched her hairpins and concentrated, and a barrier formed around all three of them. "Did that work" She asked. Yuma smiled. "Yes. You learn quickly." Cynthia looked at her. "How did you and your companions come here?" Orihime shrugged. "I don't know. I had invited Ichigo and the others over for ice cream, then suddenly I passed out and when I woke up I was here."

Suddenly there was a rumbling, and the sky started to shake. Cynthia and Yuma grabbed their swords, and Orihime's hands flew to her hairpins. "What's going on?" Orihime cried as she began to flicker. Cynthia relaxed slightly. "It seems you're being woken up. Although it appears something is wrong on your end. Be careful, and we will meet in the real world! Don't head any farther towards…" Orihime didn't hear the last of it as the scenery and Cynthia and Yuma disappeared.

"Orihime!' Hiyori cried as she dragged her to her feet. "We've got to go now!" Orihime looked around and gasped. Ichigo and Lisa were facing off against two giant monsters, and Chad and Uryu were attempting to hold back several more farther in the woods. "Ichigo! I've got Orihime!" Ichigo glanced back and nodded. "Keep her safe!" Hiyori looked around and her gaze settled on Chad and Uryu. "Let's go that way. Uryu and Chad need help." Orihime nodded. "Right." They ran towards them, ducking spikes that one of the larger monsters was launching from its back. "My arrows barely hurt them." Uryu shouted as they ran up. "Chad's having to keep flinging them back into the woods, but he can't keep it up forever." Hiyori gripped her zanpakuto tighter and glared at the monsters. "Then we'll hold them off long enough for Ichigo and Lisa to get over here so we can get out!"

"Haaaaaa!" Ichigo swings his zanpakuto around and cuts off the tip of one of the legs of the monster sending spikes everywhere. It screeches in pain and sends a fresh wave of spikes at him as it backs off slightly. "Yeah, that's it! Get out of here!" He yells. "ICHIGO!" Something hits him in the back of the head, and Ichigo sees Lisa right behind him. "We can't get rid of all of them here! We need to get to the others and get out of here!" "You mean run?" Ichigo asks disbelievingly. "Yes! We need to get out of here because if we don't someone's going to get hurt soon! And we can't have someone wounded while we're trying to survive here!" Ichigo nods. "Ok." He grips his zanpakuto and holds it above his head. "Getsuga… Tenshou!" He splits the ground in between them and the largest monsters and then starts sprinting towards the others with Lisa right behind him. They caught up just as Uryu killed a monster Hiyori had pinned to a tree with her zanpakuto. "Are you guys ok?" Ichigo asked. "We're pinned down and surrounded by monsters Ichigo! How do you think we are?" Hiyori snapped. "Let's go then!" Ichigo said. Chad and the others nodded, and they ran into the forest towards an area where there didn't seem to be any monsters coming.


	5. Chapter 5

Ichigo and the others ran into a large clearing and skidded to a stop. Standing in the center of the clearing staring at them was a little girl in a ragged dress. Hiyori took a step closer to the girl then stopped. "Who are you?" Hiyori said. The little girl stared at her. "You feel familiar." The girl looks at all of them one by one. "You all feel familiar. I'm coming with you." Uryu's jaw dropped, and Ichigo's eyes bugged out. "What-?" "You can't come with us! We don't even know you!" Orihime walked over and crouched down to look at the little girl. "Ichigo, I think she should come with us. We can't just leave her here." Ichigo looks at Lisa, and she shrugs. Ichigo rubs his head. "fine, but you need to watch her, ok Orihime?" Orihime nodded, and the little girl fell into step with her. As she and the others started moving, Orihime looked at the little girl. " _Just before we came into the clearing, there was a surge of spirit pressure, and it felt the same as those two women in my dream. If you're like them…_ " Orihime shook her head. There was no way this little girl could have anything in common with those warriors.

"We need to go." Cynthia and Yuma sheathed their swords. "That group we're following ran into trouble." Helen grinned "What's new? They're the ones stupid enough to walk in that direction." Yuma smiles slightly. "Doesn't that make us the ones stupid enough to follow them?" Helen glares at Yuma and adjusts her sword. Clare waves her hand from the edge of the camp. "Let's go!" As they run out of the clearing, Yuma thinks back to the dream. " _I hope that girl's ok. If she gets hurt we won't be able to communicate at all with them…_ "

Ichigo yelled as he ran. "The forest is ending ahead!" The trees were spaced farther apart and he could see a rocky landscape ahead. "Come on!" The group came out and stopped, panting, at the edge of the forest. "This…huff…place…huff… people lived…huff…here, see?" Uryu waved his hand at the edge of the mountain range in front of them. Hiyori looked and saw that there windows carved into the rock face, and several openings that seemed to lead inside. Orihime started walking towards the nearest opening with the girl next to her. "Maybe we could hide in here?" At the same moment Hiyori's, Lisa's, and Uryu's heads all snapped up. "Orihime!" Something hit Orihime and she went flying sideways. She slammed into a boulder embedded in the ground and groaned. "What happened?" "Are you ok?" Orihime opened her eyes and saw the little girl sitting next her. Before she could answer, Orihime heard Ichigo. "Yaaaaaaaahhhh!" She looked up and saw him charging a figure with a giant sword. Orihime gasped. "W-!" Then she saw the figure wore the same uniform but wasn't one of the two she met in her dream. "Ichigo, no!" she cried as the figure planted the tip of her sword in the ground behind her and grinned.

Ichigo swung his sword at her, and the figure brought up her sword to meet his. The impact sent a shockwave past Ichigo, and a second later he went flying. "Ichigo!" Chad cried, and he planted his feet and drew his arm back. "El Directo!" A ball of energy flew from his arm towards the figure, and the figure froze. The energy hit, and there was a giant flash of light. When the light faded, Uryu gasped. There was a second figure standing in front of the first, and she had her sword out and pointing at an odd angle. Neither figure had been hit, but there was a smoking crater in the wall next to them. "She blocked it?! But how?" Uryu stared at the figures, his mind racing. The first figure had planted her sword in the ground before her attack, but he had no idea what the second figure had done to stop Chad's attack. "Orihime!" Hiyori Shunpoed over to stand in front of her as she struggled to her feet. "Are you ok?" Orihime nodded. "I'm fine" she said. "Watch out!" The first figure had shaken off her shock, and was running towards Orihime and the others.

Hiyori brought her sword up, and the figure brought her sword down squarely on top of hers. Hiyori's arms shook, but she held her ground as the ground underneath her cracked. Then the figure twisted her sword slightly and sent Hiyori staggering sideways. The figure raised her sword and swung it straight at the little girl. "Soten Kishun! I reject!" Orihime's shield flared into existence a foot above the girl's head, with the giant sword embedded halfway through it. The figure yanked it out of the shield, and the shield cracked and fell apart. The figure swung her sword around, and Orihime flung a new shield up between her and the figure. This time the figure twisted her sword so it glanced off the shield, then brought it around and sliced through the side of the shield. Orihime screamed and flung her arms up as the sword came towards her. She closed her eyes and heard a clang. She opened her eyes and gasped, because Hiyori and Ichigo had both blocked it with their own blades.

Orihime, get out of here!" Ichigo said through gritted teeth. "We'll take care of these two!" Orihime stepped backwards and looked towards the others. Chad, Lisa, and Uryu kept attacking the other figure, but she deflected every attack without any apparent effort. Some of the attacks were even deflected back towards Uryu and the others so they had to stop attacking to dodge them.

Something brushed against Orihime, and she realized the little girl was still next to her. "Claymore are strong. Some are less careful though. They enjoy it too much." Orihime looked down at her. "Enjoy what too much?" The girl looked back at her. "The power. And the fights." Orihime looked at the figures, Claymore, she reminded herself, and her eyes went wide. She had been sure that they had both had silver eyes at the beginning, like the ones in her dream, but the one fighting Uryu and the others had gold eyes like a snake's. She looked at the one fighting Ichigo and Hiyori and realized her eyes were gold as well. She looked at the little girl. "What are they?" The little girl looked up and grinned. "Claymore are half-human… and half-Yoma." Orihime frowned. "What's a Yoma?" Suddenly both figures turned and looked at the mountain behind them, then blurred and reappeared halfway up it. Orihime looked above them and gasped. Coming over the edge of the mountain was a horde of monsters. They had fangs and claws, and some of them had wings. Orihime's eyes widened, and a look of horror appeared on her face. "Those… are Yoma?!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Ichigo!" Ichigo stopped looking around for the person he'd been fighting and looked across the battlefield at Uryu. "We've got to run!" Uryu and the others started heading into the forest, and Ichigo called to Hiyori. They went to follow Uryu, then Hiyori stopped. "Orihime!" She yelled. Ichigo turned and gasped. Orihime was standing at the base of the mountain staring at the Claymore, who had just begun to attack the monsters coming over the mountain. Ichigo and Hiyori ran towards her, when suddenly there was a new presence on the battlefield.

They looked up, and standing above the horde of monsters was a little girl. But she didn't look normal. Her eyes were pure black, and her hair moved around her head like snakes. She pointed at the two figures battling the monsters, and her arm dissolved into black ribbons and impaled the first figure. "What is this spiritual pressure? It's like a captain's bankai!" Hiyori said. Ichigo kept moving towards Orihime. But the monsters were almost all the way down the mountain now, and the two people on the mountain weren't doing anything to stop them. The second figure had freed the first from the ribbons, and was now frantically blocking attacks from the little girl.

Just as Ichigo was about to get to the bottom of the mountain, Hiyori Shunpoed in front of him and tackled him. "You can't go there Ichigo! It's too late to get her!" Ichigo looked up and saw the monsters swarming around Orihime. "ORIHIME!" He screamed. He threw Hiyori off and started running towards the monsters. "Disintigrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo #9 Geki!" Ichigo collapsed to the ground as the Kido took affect. He stared at Hiyori as she ran over to him. "I'm sorry, Ichigo." Hiyori says as she picks him up. "We can't help her now." She Shunpoes towards where the others went, and Ichigo stares at the monsters until he can't see them anymore, with tears pouring`down his cheeks.

Inside one of the caves, Orihime stared at the little girl. As soon as the Yoma had started to surround them, the girl had grabbed her hand and started pulling her through the group of Yoma towards the nearest cave. Only a couple had tried to attack them, but every time a surge of pressure from the little girl drove them off. "What are you?" The little girl looked at her but didn't say anything. As Orihime looked around the cave, she discovered even more questions. The cave was full of beds carved out of the walls, but almost all of them were child-sized, and none of them had a mattress. There were pairs of supports hanging from the wall, and two different doors leading out of the room. Orihime moved towards the opening they had come through, and the little girl moved in front of her. "Are they still out there?" Orihime asked. The little girl looked towards the entrance, then shook her head. "Nope." The girl walked outside, and Orihime followed.

They came outside and Orihime shaded her eyes. It hadn't seemed like they'd spent that much time inside the cave, but it was now full day. Orihime looked around and saw there was no evidence that a swarm of Yoma had been there earlier. Then she felt something on the mountain. Her eyes widened. "Those two Claymore, they're still alive!" She turned and started racing up the mountain, and the girl followed behind. The two Claymore were a good way up the mountain, so she was panting by the time she got up to them. Once she got to them, she froze. There was blood everywhere, and one Claymore was pushed into a crevice between a boulder and the mountain. The other was laying facedown in front of that crevice, with her sword outstretched. "Oh!" Orihime ran over, and her healing shield went up over both of them. She rolled the first one over and gasped. There had obviously been several deep puncture wounds, but almost all of them showed some amount of healing. The two worst wounds were both half healed, but some of the smaller ones were still bleeding freely. The one farther back in the crevice stirred, and Orihime turned to look at her. She had puncture wounds as well, but nowhere near as many as the second one, although they were just as deep.

The Claymore in the crevice started to open her eyes, but as soon as she saw Orihime near the other Claymore her eyes flew wide open and she shouted. "Wait! I'm not going to hurt you!" Orihime scrambled backwards until she was on the other side of her shield and held both hands out. The Claymore was crawling out of the crevice and pulling her sword out behind her. She lunged at Orihime, but the shield flared and she flew back. "—!" Orihime yelped as the Claymore cried out. She glared at Orihime and slowly moved to her comrade and started looking at her wounds. Suddenly she stopped and stared, then whipped her head around to look at Orihime. She checked her wounds, then shook her friend by the shoulder. She said something, but Orihime didn't understand. The other stirred, then sat up. She looked around as her comrade talked, then her gaze settled on Orihime. Her eyes went up to the little girl, who was perched on a rock above Orihime, and her eyes narrowed. She called something out to Orihime, but Orihime shook her head. "I don't understand you." She put her hands on the shield and sighed. " _What am I going to do? Ichigo and the others are gone, and I'm healing the people who attacked us. And I have a little girl following me when I have no idea what she is…_ "


	7. Chapter 7

Ichigo opened his eyes and blinked. He rubbed his head and frowned. "Where am I?" Suddenly it all came racing back. Finding the rock city, meeting the people with swords, seeing the monsters come over the mountain, and… "Orihime!" He scrambled to sit up, and Chad came over. "Ichigo. Are you all right?" "Yes, where's Orihime?" Chad looked down. "She's not here." Ichigo stared at him. "Then what are we doing? We need to go find her!" He stood up, and Uryu grabbed his arm. "Ichigo! We're not alone." Ichigo looked around and his jaw dropped. On the other side of the clearing were four girls who looked almost exactly like the two that had attacked them. "We ran into them when we were trying to escape the mountain. They led us away from the monsters, then started talking once we got here." Hiyori says as she walks over. "They can't understand us, and we don't understand them." Lisa adds, leaning against a tree. "They seem to know we're missing someone though."

Suddenly, the youngest-looking figure walks towards them. She pulls her sword out, and they stiffen, but she starts drawing something on the ground. As the lines come together, Ichigo leans forward. "That's Orihime!" The girl nods and gestures towards them, then towards her companions. "It looks like they're trying to find her too." Uryu says. "But why?" Chad asks. Ichigo shakes his head and looks back toward the mountain. "It doesn't matter. As long as they want to help find Orihime, I don't care what their reason is." The girl sheathed her sword and said something to her companions, and they came over. The woman with short hair motioned with her hand, and the other women started heading back to the mountain with her. Ichigo and the others looked at each other, then followed.

Yuma rubbed her cheek. "I felt like an idiot trying to talk to them." Helen grinned. "You looked you would rather be fighting Yoma then drawing a picture in the dirt." Clare spoke up. "Why is it so important that we find this girl they're looking for?" "Her name is Orihime." Cynthia says. "Yuma and I were able to talk to her, so if we want to find out who they are then we need to find her." Deneve frowns. "How were you able to talk to her, but not the others?" "We think her power may be similar to our yoki manipulation. She was able to create barriers of some sort, and she had something that she was able to summon."

Orihime looked at the little girl. Something had just crossed her mind. "Hey, what's your name?" The girl looked at her. "It's Hana. It means flower." Orihime nodded. "Well, Hana, my name is Orihime, and it means Princess." Orihime grinned. "You have a very pretty name." The girl grins. "So do you." Orihime looks up at her. "But I was wondering, how can you understand me? All the others can't speak my language, and I can't understand them, but you can talk to me and I understand you." The girl rubbed the side of her head and frowned. "I don't know. I know I don't belong here, but it was so long ago I can't remember." "What do you mean?" Orihime said. "Once you become like them," the girl pointed at the two Claymore. "You don't age. As long as you aren't killed in battle, you live on forever, to protect the humans."

Orihime looked at the two Claymore. "You don't age at all?…" Orihime shook herself and stood up. "Well, they're both healed so I don't have any reason to keep the shield up any longer. Would you be able to explain to them that I'm not dangerous?" "Ok, but they probably won't listen to me." Hana walked up to the shield and started talking to the Claymore. One just glared at her and didn't say anything, but the other slowly started nodding and said something back. Hana looked at Orihime and grinned. "She said that since you healed them, they won't attack you. But they strongly advise coming with them so they can take you to people who would know what to do with you." The Claymore pointed at herself, then at her companion. "She'd also like to say her name is Audrey and her rank is number 3, and that her companion is Rachel, who is number 5."

"What do the numbers mean?" Orihime said. Hana started laughing so hard she almost fell off the rock she was standing on and had to grab the rock behind her to stay up. "Oh, you're serious. Well, the numbers rank how powerful a Claymore normally is. Single digits are amazingly powerful, and the top five even more so." Hana looks out of the corner of her eye at Orihime. "So you should be super glad that you didn't meet that Awakened Being." Orihime frowns. "Why not?" "Because," Hana said, sliding down the rock. "That awakened being was able to take out two single digits while only using a tiny amount of her strength." Orihime touched a hairpin and the shield around the Claymores winked out of existence. "Wow. So she's that strong?" Hana nodded. "And she hasn't stopped. She seems to be looking for something." The first Claymore came up and put her hand on Orihime's shoulder. Audrey, Orihime remembered. Orihime looked at her and Audrey gave her a tiny smile then started moving down the mountain. Rachel immediately followed, and Orihime looked at Hana. "Should we?" Hana shrugged. "If you don't then other Claymore will just find you. Audrey's one of the better Claymore to deal with, she's more level-headed than most. There are a couple who may just kill you on sight if they see you using your power." Orihime nodded slightly with her eyes wide. "So we should go with them?" "I'm following you, because I don't know why but you and your friends remind me of something I can't remember. But if I'm with you, you're going to get more odd looks and suspicion from the Claymore." Orihime nodded. "We'll go with them." She turned and started following the Claymore, and Hana walked after her.

Rachel looked at Audrey as she walked next to her. "What do you think she is?" Audrey shrugged. "I don't know. She has impressive power, so we should have Miria and the others deal with her." Rachel frowned. "What do you think they'll do?" The skepticism is obvious in her voice. Audrey extended her arm in front of Rachel and Rachel stopped. "Rachel," Audrey said patiently. "Like it or not, the Six are our new leaders. They survived Pieta, and they survived Priscilla and everything the Organization threw at them." "So did we!" Rachel says angrily. Audrey shakes her head. "No. They saved us in the beginning, from Riful. And every single Claymore besides number 10 wasn't enough to stop Miria. Do you remember that? We were among the first to go down from her, but she didn't kill a single one of us." Audrey pulls her arm away and starts walking down the mountain again. "You know all of that, so stop fighting it. There's no way you or any of us could defeat any of them. They are our new leaders, and they know what's best." Rachel grinds her teeth and walks after her. "I know that, but it doesn't mean I have to like it." Audrey smiles. "I know."


	8. Chapter 8

Hiyori was walking next to Lisa as they followed the Claymore back towards the mountain. "Hey Lisa." Lisa looked at her. "What?" "Do you think that the others are here as well?" Lisa frowned. "Probably. It seems that whatever caused us to come here was getting rid of anything that wasn't supposed to be part of Soul Society." Hiyori stared at her. "What?" Lisa shoved her. "Come on Hiyori, I know you're not dumb. We have Ichigo, who's been changing Soul Society from the first day he stepped in. We have you, me, and the other Vizards, who were never supposed to exist. And we have the Quincy and two other humans who invaded Seireitei. It's obvious. Someone is trying to clean up." Hiyori grabbed Lisa's arm. "So how are we supposed to get back if someone sent us here?" Lisa shrugged. "We'll find a way."

Suddenly, all the Claymore turned and looked onto the forest on their left. Ichigo and the others stopped, but they couldn't hear anything. "What is it?" Uryu said. The Claymore all drew their swords and moved together. The bob-haired woman gave a series of instructions, then the one with short braids said something and they nodded. They spread out slightly, and then the youngest-looking one shouted. At the same moment, there was a snapping sound next to Ichigo. Something crashed into him and sent him flying, and everyone started yelling. Ichigo tried to reach his zanpakuto, but his arms were pinned to his sides. Suddenly he realized that whatever had tackled him wasn't attacking him, it was hugging him! Over the sound of everyone looking around waiting for the next attack, Ichigo realized that the person hugging him was saying something. "Ichigo! I'm so glad to see you Ichigo!" Ichigo's eyes widened. "Nel?" Nel, because it was Nel, stood up grinning and pulled Ichigo up. Uryu and the others looked at her with amazement. She was dressed in her Espada outfit, and had her zanpakuto sheathed by her side. "Nel?" "What're you doing here?" Nel bounced around Ichigo as she explained. "I don't know. I was in Los Noches with Pesche and Dondochocka, when suddenly a hole formed around me. When it vanished I was here." Uryu frowned and pushed his glasses up. "So whoever sent us here also sent you."

"Oh I'm not the only one." Nel said brightly. "Haribel's here too, and Grimmjow. And…" Nel looks at Ichigo. "And Ulquiorra."

Ichigo's jaw dropped. "Ulquiorra… is here?!" "How is that possible?" Uryu asked. "We saw him dissolve into dust!" Nel shrugged. "He doesn't know either. He knows that he wasn't feeling or thinking anything, then he felt a reiatsu and was starting to come back together. But as soon as he was reformed, He was brought here too." Hiyori frowned. "So where are they?" As soon as we felt your reiatsu, Ulquiorra and I started trying to find you. When Orihime's reiatsu was separated from yours, Ulquiorra left to go find her, and I kept looking for you." Ichigo balled up his hands. "So Ulquiorra's looking for her?" "Yes. And at the speed he was going, it's not going to be long before he finds her." Lisa nods slowly. "That's good." Ichigo whirls around and glares. "How is that good?!" He yells. "Because," Lisa said. "If he's looking for her, that means he doesn't want her to die. So when he finds her, and he probably will before we do, he'll protect her." Ichigo stares at her. "You think he's going to protect her?" "I'm sure of it. Orihime told me about him, and in the end he did care about her in some way." Hiyori shoves Ichigo and he staggers. "So what are you standing here for?" She asks with a grin. "We need to go find Orihime and say hello to this Espada that killed you."

Orihime walked next to Hana, with the two Claymore walking farther ahead. Since they had started walking through the forest, Orihime hadn't stopped bombarding Hana with questions. She had asked her everything from what her favorite color was (silver) to what her favorite thing to do was (explore). Right now, Orihime was trying to find out more about what the Claymore do. "So you are the people who protect the humans here?" Hana nodded, then shook her head. "Claymore protect the humans, but I'm not a Claymore anymore. I try to stay away from humans as much as possible. In fact, the only thing that's stopping me from leaving you is that you're reminding me of something." Orihime gave her a look. "Why would you try to avoid people?" Hana shrugged and looked away. "Bad things happen when I'm around people." Suddenly Audrey and Rachel stopped and put their hands on their swords. Orihime looked around. "What is it?" Audrey turned and said something to Hana, and Hana said something back. Rachel snapped out a response, and Hana grinned. "They say there are some Yoma close by, so we should go ahead while they deal with them. Rachel got grumpy because I asked her if she was sure she'd be able to handle them on her own, and she said she wouldn't need any help from me." Orihime looked off the path. "There are Yoma out there?" Don't worry! Rachel's right. A couple Yoma won't be anywhere close to a match for two single-digits." Hana started walking up the path, and Orihime followed.

As they left Audrey and Rachel behind, Orihime noticed two tiny presences. One seemed as if it were far away, but the other was much closer. "Hana?" Orihime called. "Yeah?" "I think a Yoma's close to us." "I know. Actually there are two of them out there." Orihime's eyes widened. "What are we going to do?" It's ok. Unless they go for us from both sides of the path at the same time, we'll be fine." At that moment, something exploded out of the bush next to Hana. Orihime screamed and Hana whipped around. The Yoma stood up and snarled. It had long claws and giant fangs, and large golden eyes that glowed. Orihime's hands flew up to her hairpins, but there was a crashing sound behind her. Orihime looked up and gasped at the Yoma towering over her. It was bigger then the other one, and it had a chunk of something grasped in one hand. _"_ _This presence! It feels so evil. There's nothing good in it at all. It just wants to kill, and to feed…"_ The Yoma swung its other hand at her, and Orihime flinched and threw up her other arm and her shield. There was a sound and a surge of reiatsu, and the Yoma screamed in rage. Orihime opened one eye, then both of her eyes flew open. Standing in front of her shield, with the Yoma's hand caught with their own, was someone she had never thought she'd see again. The Espada outfit, Hollow fragment, and posture were all the same. Then he turned and looked at her, and her mouth dropped open. It was definitely Ulquiorra, the Espada who had kidnapped her and had been in charge of her and her safety at Los Noches. "Well, woman? Can't you protect yourself from this trash?" Ulquiorra turned back and flung the Yoma through the tree next to it. It staggered upright, but Ulquiorra appeared in front of it, grabbed its neck, and with one movement, pulled its head completely off.

"Clare." Cynthia pulls her aside as the strangers deal with the new arrival. They seem to know her and are babbling back and forth with her. "Remember the rest of these things that showed up a few months ago and they disappeared into the forest?" Clare nods. "Well, one of them just met up with Orihime, Rachel, and Audrey." Clare frowns. "We need to hurry up and get to her then. Can you tell if it's going to attack her?" Cynthia nods. "Yes, and I don't think so. It seems that they know each other as well. It just saved her from a Yoma." Helen grins. "Well, what are we standing around for? Let's go meet this girl you guys keep talking about!" Helen walks over to the intruders and yells. "Hey!" They turn and look at her, and she grins. "Well, do you guys want to find…" She turns and looks at Cynthia. "What was the girl's name again?" Yuma answers before Cynthia does. "It's Orihime." "Right." Helen turns back around. "Do you guys want to find Orihime?" Their reaction was electric. They all got up, even the new person who had just joined them. The orange-haired one rushed over and began jabbering, and Helen's hand went to her hilt. "Calm down!" She and the other Claymore started walking, and the intruders fell into step behind them.

Deep inside the woods, Audrey sheathes her sword and looks at Rachel. "Do you feel that?" Rachel nodded. "One of the creatures is with Orihime." "We'd better go then. We don't know what it will do." Audrey and Rachel take off running. Further down the path, Orihime stares at Ulquiorra. "How are you alive?" Orihime whispers. "I saw you turn to dust." Ulquiorra looks at her. "You brought me back." "What?" Orihime blinks in shock. "How? I never tried, I left Hueco Mundo with the shinigami." "I don't know." Ulquiorra stepped forward and put one finger on his chest. "I was somewhere where it was completely black, and I felt nothing. I didn't think either. But at some point in time," Ulquiorra puts his finger on Orihime's chest."I felt your spiritual pressure. It felt warm, and then I felt my body again. You brought me back to life, woman." Ulquiorra steps back and puts his hand back in his pocket. Orihime stares at him as he looks down the path at Hana, who is staring at him as well. She couldn't believe that she had somehow brought Ulquiorra back without realizing it. Then she remembered something. After she had returned to the world of the living, she had had one dream about Hueco Mundo. In that dream, she had gone to the roof where Ulquiorra had vanished, and she had summoned her healing shield in the center. As she stood there, Ulquiorra's form began to come together inside the shield. And when the dream ended, Ulquiorra had looked at Orihime and nodded.

Orihime gasped. "I did bring you back." Ulquiorra looked at her. "How could you doubt it when I'm standing in front of you?" Ulquiorra looks at Hana. "What you should be asking is why are you traveling with a monster?" Hana's eyes widen, and Orihime looks at her with a frown. "How is she a monster?" "Do you know what she is?" Orihime nodded. "She used to be a Claymore, but she left." "Did she explain that there is only one way a Claymore 'leaves' the Organization?" Orihime shook her head. "Claymore are created by putting Yoma flesh and blood inside a human. There is only so long a human can resist the urges from the monster half. Eventually, they become a complete monster, an Awakened Being. They are worse then Yoma, and cause much more destruction. The only thing they want, is to devour humans endlessly." Orihime looks at Hana with horror, and Hana shakes her head. "I'm different! Yes, I Awakened, but I don't eat humans anymore! I lost it for a little bit, but something helped me remember!" She looks at Orihime beseechingly. "I know it has something to do with who I was before, and you and your friends remind me! If I can just stay with you a little longer, I know I'll remember who I am! Then I might be able to control it and protect humans again!" Orihime held up her hand, and Hana snapped her mouth shut. "You can come." Hana grinned. "Thank you, Orihime." "But if you feel like it's getting too hard for you to maintain control, you need to leave." Hana nodded. "Ok!" Hana, Orihime, and Ulquiorra turned as Audrey and Rachel ran up. They stopped when they saw Ulquiorra, and Rachel gripped the hilt of her sword. Ulquiorra turned and looked at them, and Orihime looked from Ulquiorra to to the Claymore, then stepped in front of Ulquiorra. "It's ok, he won't hurt you." She raised her hands, and they started to glow. "Huh?" Orihime looked at her hands, which were generating a golden mist. Orihime stared at them, and then her hairpins made a small sound. She blinked, then said, "Kogane no Supichi." (Golden Speech) The mist flowed outwards, and Orihime grinned as it spread out. Rachel looked at Audrey and frowned. "What do you think she's doing?" "It's ok, it won't hurt you." Orihime said. They both turned to look at her, and their eyes widened. "We can understand you?" Orihime grinned. "Yes, and I can understand you."


	9. Chapter 9

Ichigo walked next to Nel as they followed the Claymore. "So how long have you been here Nel?" Nel shrugs. "I think a few months. There isn't really anything to do here except fight monsters, unless you go to a town. and since we aren't human, that doesn't really work out." Ichigo looked at Nel with a strange expression. "What?" Nel asked. "I just can't get over you being dressed like an Espada, and with you being full-grown as well." Nel laughed, but her answer was cut off by Uryu. "I can sense Orihime!" He started running down the path, and Ichigo took off after him. As they came around a turn in the path, Uryu crashed into Orihime."Orihime!" Uryu was cut off as Ichigo slammed into him, and they both fell to the ground.

"Uryu! Ichigo! I'm so glad you're both ok!" Orihime pulled Ichigo and Uryu up. "Is everyone else ok?" Uryu nodded. "They are behind us with the natives. Orihime, we found Nel here." Orihime's eyes light up. "Nel's here?" Uryu nods, and Ichigo steps forward. "Orihime, what happened? We thought that..." Orihime grinned. "The girl helped me! She kept the Yoma away, then Ul-" Ichigo looked behind her and grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto. Ulquiorra stood behind Orihime with his hands in his pockets, and Ichigo took a step forward. "Ichigo don't!" Orihime darts between them and holds her hands up. "He protected me! I would've died if he hadn't been there!" "He killed me!" "Then you killed him!" Ichigo looked at Ulquiorra, and Ulquiorra stared at him, then blinked slowly. "Trash." Ichigo growled and lunged forward, and Orihime yelped. A flash of silver appeard in front of Ichigo, and he stopped. A Claymore he hadn't seen had her sword out and pointed straight at Ichigo. "Oh, it's ok Rachel! Ichigo just doesn't like Uquiorra, because…" The Claymore looks at her, and Orihime stops. "Oh, I'm sorry!" Orihime holds her hands up. "Kogane no Supichi." A golden mist flowed from her hands, and the Claymore nodded then turned to Ichigo. "Don't move. I'm tired of dealing with stupid idiots that have no idea what they're doing and keep messing up my job." Ichigo blinks, and looks at Orihime. "When did you learn to do that, Orihime?" "I learned it after we met up with Ulquiorra. Oh, this is Hana." Ichigo sees the girl they had met when they first arrived. She was standing farther back, with the other Claymore. "You don't want to get close to her Ichigo." Ichigo frowned. "Why not?" Orihime looked at him with a serious expression. "Just don't."

Ichigo nodded just as the others came up. "Hiyori! Chad! Lisa! Nel!" Orihime ran forward and hugged Nel. "Wow, you're so pretty when you're fully grown!" Nel grinned and hugged her back. "It's good to see you too, Orihime." Orihime looked at the Claymore and grinned. "Cynthia! Yuma!" She put up her hands and more golden mist came out as she walked over to them. "I'm so glad to meet you in real life." Cynthia nodded and Yuma smiled. "It's good to meet you. You seem to have mastered more of your power. It doesn't take as long for you to enable talking to us." Yes, and I can talk to other Claymore too! Oh!" Orihime said. "I should introduce all of you. "Orihime introduced all of the Claymore and her friends to each other, and at the end called Hana over. "This is Hana. She's an Awakened Being, but she seems to have it mostly under control. Cynthia nods and looked at her cooly. "What rank were you?" Hana stood up straight and looked at her, her eyes hard. "I was number three." The Claymore looked at each other, then Audrey smiled. "It's an honor to meet a former number three."

As the sun set, Hiyori built a fire and everyone gathered around it. Orihime's mist was hanging in the air, so Ichigo and the others were still able to talk to the Claymore. "So, what are you guys?" Lisa asked Audrey. Audrey looked at her, then at Ichigo and the others. "I'll tell you if you tell us what you are." Lisa nodded. "Deal." Audrey drew in a breath of air and let it out. She described the situation and how Claymore were created, and what happened to them eventually. Lisa and the others looked shocked as she finished speaking. "So no matter what, you all turn into monsters in the end?" Hiyori asked. Audrey nodded. "Unless we are killed, we eventually reach the point where we can't keep our Yoma powers in check. At that time, we change into a creature much deadlier than a Yoma." "Hiyori sat back and sighed. "Well, we kind of know what that feels like." Hiyori went into an explanation of how they had become Vizards, and had to gain control over their Hollows or become a Hollow permanently. "Ichigo knows this better than anyone." Hiyori points at Ichigo across the fire as she talks. "His Hollow refuses to shut up and keeps trying to take over."

Ichigo held his hand up. "Wait, so you guys were all captains and lieutenants before you became Vizards?" Hiyori glares at him. "Yeah, idiot, how do you think we got these zanpakuto?" Ichigo shrugs. "I don't know, I thought you stole them or they just appeared when Aizen did his thing. And if you were captains and lieutenants, how come you weren't in Soul Society?" Ichigo looks at Lisa questioningly. "We weren't with Soul Society because when when we were transformed into Hollow, Central 46 decided to execute us, so we-" Hiyori jumps up and interrupts Lisa. "What the heck do you mean you thought we stole them?! How easy do you think it is to steal a zanpakuto?! And even if you did, it wouldn't work for you!" Ichigo takes a step closer to her and yells at her. "You don't have to bite my head off Hiyori! I was just curious!" Hiyori glares at him. "Well to me it sounded like you think we're weak!"

As Hiyori and Ichigo continue to argue, Orihime moves to the other side of the fire to sit next to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra was sitting by himself, staring at the fire. Orihime looked at the fire for a few minutes, then started to talk. "You know, when you left in Hueco Mundo, I missed you. You didn't seem like a normal Hollow, and I thought that maybe you would be able to survive the fight against Aizen and become our friend, the way Nel is." Ulquiorra looked at her, then looked at the stars. "When I appeared here, this entire world felt strange. Even when I learned how to deal with the trash, there was still something wrong with this world. But the moment you were brought here, the world felt cleaner. Ulquiorra looked at Orihime. "When I found you and stopped the trash, woman, it felt like something had been crushing my chest and had just disappeared." Orihime looks at her hands. "Orihime. You don't have to call me woman any more. You can call me Orihime." She looks up at Ulquiorra and smiles, and Ulquiorra nods. "Orihime. That is a beautiful name." There's a crash on the other side of the fire, and Orihime jumps.

The argument between Ichigo and Hiyori was getting ugly. Hiyori had released her zanpakuto and from the looks of it, had swung it at the tree behind Ichigo. She had chopped halfway through the thick trunk and was now trying to pull it out while yelling at Ichigo. "Go on and say that again! Shinji is not a weirdo and neither is Urahara!" Ichigo had his zanpakuto out as well and had put the tree between himself and Hiyori. "Yes they are! You hate Urahara, so why are you defending him!" Hiyori screamed in anger and yanked her zanpakuto out of the trunk. "Urahara was my captain and you can't insult him!" Hiyori went to attack Ichigo when something crashed into the ground between them. Hiyori and Ichigo both looked up to see Helen had stretched her arm out and thrown her claymore in between them. "Shut up! You guys are attracting attention!" Ichigo and Hiyori looked around and noticed that there was something coming through the woods towards them. Ichigo immediately headed towards it, but stopped when Cynthia held up her hand. "We'll deal with it." Ichigo looked at her. "Why? If we're all here, why don't we help you with the monster?" Cynthia shook her head." We've seen that you people are able to transform your swords. Now you need to see what we can do when we transform our bodies." Helen grinned, and stepped forward to stand with Cynthia. "Just wait until you see what we can do!" She and Cynthia turned and joined the other Claymore, and they moved into a loose group as the monster stepped into the clearing. Orihime looked around and saw that Hana was still standing over by the far side of the fire. She smiled at Hana and Hana smiled back, then looked at the Awakened Being and frowned.


	10. Chapter 10

"Well, you certainly are ugly." Helen says as the Awakened Being steps into the clearing. The creature is larger than an elephant, and it's skin is dark green and slimy. Its eyes bob on feelers, and as it pants Orihime can see the gleaming teeth inside its mouth. She shifts around on the log, and Ulquiorra put out his hand. "They'll be fine. This one is trash. It was a very low-ranking Claymore while it was human, most likely." Orihime looks at Audrey and Rachel then back at Ulquiorra. "Are you sure?" Ulquiorra nods. "They won't be in any danger." Orihime looks up as the monster shrieks and sees that Helen sliced off one of its eyes. "Yes! Kill it!" Hiyori shouted and pumped her fist. Helen grinned, and Rachel dashed forward with her as they charged the monster. Both of their eyes were glowing yellow, and they were shaped the same as the Awakened Being's. "Die!" Rachel planted her sword in the ground then swung it upwards. The awakened being swung its paw at her, then screamed in fury as Helen's arm shot out and sliced its arm off completely. Rachel's sword hit the awakened being in the head and sliced it completely in half. She grinned, then dodged as the other arm swung at her. "Look out!" Ichigo cried. "We're fine!" Cynthia stepped forward. "It won't survive. It's just trying to take one of us with it."

Suddenly the monster burst into pieces, and Clare sheathed her sword. Hiyori looked from the chunks of flesh to Clare, and back to what was left of the Awakened Being. "How did you do that?" "Quicksword." Clare turns around, and Helen looks at Ichigo and grins. "Well, what did you think?" Ichigo nods slowly, looking at the chunks of flesh on the ground. "You guys are strong." Helen grins wider and claps Rachel on the back. "That was a great swing, Rachel! If I hadn't already learned Drillsword, I'd be working on your Strongsword!" Rachel grinned broadly as she and Helen walked back to the fire. "Your Extendable Limbs are just as impressive, Helen." They continue chatting as Ichigo and the others come closer to the fire. "So what are you guys doing, now that the Organization's gone?" Lisa looked at Cynthia and waited for an answer. Cynthia looked at the other Claymore, and they looked at Orihime and her friends then nodded. Cynthia looked back at them and frowned. "We're trying to stop Riful's daughter."

Uryu frowned. "Who is that?" Yuma piped up. "She was created during our battle with Priscilla." Cynthia looked at Yuma then continued talking. "We call her Riful's daughter because she is shaped similarly to Riful, but she also has some of another Awakened Being's attacks." Clare speaks without looking up. "His name was Dauf. He was completely devoted to her, and he went insane when she died." Helen nodded. "We don't have any idea how she was created, but she was powerful enough to fight Priscilla and damage her." Audrey looks at Orihime. "You've felt her, remember?" Orihime blinked. "I have?" Audrey nodded. "That person who attacked when we first met you. The little girl with ribbon hair." Orihime's eyes widened as she remembered the small girl with the pure black eyes. "She's the one you're trying to defeat?" Audrey and Cynthia nodded. "She's been collecting Awakened Beings and Yoma from all over the island. We think she's trying to find her mother." Helen nods and throws another log onto the fire. "A couple of Claymore have tried to approach her and speak to her, but she doesn't seem capable of understanding us. She ripped a lower-level Claymore in half, and the others barely got away."

Ichigo frowned. "So how are you going to defeat her?" "We're going to attack her with all our Claymore who are level 25 and higher, with two exceptions." Uryu frowns. "Why would you include weaker warriors when you're attacking a strong foe?" Cynthia points at Clare, then Yuma. "They are numbers 47 and 40, but they are now strong enough to rank among the single digits. In fact," Cynthia stands and starts kicking the ashes in towards the center of the fire. "Any of the Six can be ranked in the single digits, no matter what number they are assigned." Chad spoke up, his voice a deep rumble. "So what are we going to do while you fight this creature?" Helen grabbed an apple out of her pack and took a big bite.

"You'll be fighting with us." Hiyori whipped her head around. "Why would we help you fight? It's not our battle!" Helen grinned. "Two reasons, kid. One, you're stuck here. So you want to get along with the people who live here. Two, you're human. And the Awakened Beings love to eat humans." Audrey frowned at Helen. "That wasn't called for, Helen. You aseifj vbfewr anenwbrt…" "Wait, what?" Lisa frowned, and Orihime jumped. "Sorry!" The others noticed that all the golden mist had faded away from the campsite. Orihime held up her hands, and soon the ground was covered with the softly flowing mist. Audrey nodded. "That's a sign that we should be going to sleep. We'll need our rest for tomorrow." Cynthia nodded. "I'll take first watch. Miria and Deneve should catch up with us sometime during the night." Ichigo nodded. "I'll stay up too." Orihime looked at him, and then looked at Ulquiorra. "There's no need for you to do anything, Orihime." Ulquiorra looked at Ichigo. "He's trying to adjust to a world where there are creatures worse then the Hollow he destroyed in his world." Orihime sighed and looked at Ichigo, who was deep in conversation with Cynthia. "But…" Hiyori laughed as she plopped down on the ground next to Orihime. "Just relax, Orihime! You worry too much!" Ulquiorra stood up and looked down at her. "Go to sleep, Orihime. We'll be busy tomorrow." Ulquiorra sat down beneath a large pine tree and leaned back against the trunk, closing his eyes. Orihime nodded slowly and lay down close to Hiyori. "Good night, Orihime." Hiyori said in a half-asleep voice. Orihime blinked in surprise then grinned. "Good night, Hiyori."


	11. Chapter 11

Orihime opened her eyes and blinked. The sun was just rising, and she could see the first rays of light through the branches. She sat up and stretched, and noticed that Cynthia and Audrey were talking to two new Claymore at the edge of the clearing. "Look out!" Orihime ducked as something hurtled over her head. She looked up to see Nel chasing Yuma around the clearing. They were both laughing and having a good time, and Helen was watching with a slight smile on her face. Orihime rolled over and stood up, and heard someone call her name. "Orihime! Look who's here!" Orihime looked over and blinked. Hiyori and Lisa were standing at the edge of the trees, and with them were all the other Vizards. Orihime grinned and ran over. "So you guys were here too?" Shinji nodded. "We were picked up pretty quickly by those two women over there." He says, gesturing towards the two talking to Cynthia and Audrey.

"We were lucky to meet up with those two." Love rumbles. "They were both level-headed, so when we didn't attack them they eventually decided we weren't a threat." Mashiro pipes up. "You should have seen Kensei's face when we were able to understand them when we got here!" Kensei glares at her. "You were the one who almost screamed, Mashiro." Mashiru puts her hands on her hips. "I did not, Kensei! You take that back!" No, because it's true!" "Look out!" Orihime looked over her shoulder then dodged to the left as Yuma went hurtling into the Vizards. "Sorry Yuma!" Nel ran up and pulled Yuma off of Lisa. "I didn't mean to trip you!" Yuma stood up, laughing, and shook her head. "It's ok, nothing got injured." Yuma put her hand out, and Lisa grabbed it and stood up. "So you guys said something earlier about us helping you in a fight?" "Yes." Cynthia and Audrey and the two new Claymore came over and joined the group.

The scarred Claymore crossed her arms and looked at the Vizards before speaking. "My name is Miria, and I was number six in the organization. This is Deneve, and she was number nineteen. We are going to attack Riful's Daughter and her Yoma today. She just destroyed a village west of us, so we're going to attack her before she gets any closer to the populated areas." Shinji looked at Miria. "How powerful is this Awakened being?" Deneve glanced at him, then at Clare on the other side of the clearing, and frowned before opening her mouth. "She's strong enough that she was able to fight and injure Priscilla. We were only able to defeat Priscilla because of someone who fought her before." Uryu nodded. "What are we waiting for then?" Love cracked his knuckles. "Yeah. I want to see how tough the monsters are here." Miria nodded and turned to the clearing. "Clare, Helen, Rachel, we're moving on!" They looked up and nodded, and Clare sheathed her claymore and walked over. "Clare, you will be grouped with Ichigo, Hiyori, Love, Lisa, Chad, Audrey, and Rachel. I will take Helen, Deneve, Shinji, Rose, Mashiro, Kensei, Cynthia, and Uryu. Nel and Ulquiorra, you will stay with Orihime and Hana."

Nel frowned. "Why is our group smaller then the others?" "Orihime is the only way we can communicate. If we lose her, then none of us will be able to communicate with you, and vise versa. We need you two to keep her safe." As Ulquiorra opened his mouth, Miria held up her hand. "You will still be fighting, I just want you to avoid the center of the battle as much as possible. If the battle gets to the point where we will not win, then I want you to take Orihime and get out of there. As long as she's alive, any survivors will be able to regroup and form a new plan." Ulquiorra looked at Orihime, and she looked at him. He stared at her, then blinked and looked away. He looked at Miria and nodded. "Very well. Your leadership skills are well developed. It appears you are stronger then trash." Miria blinked, then looked at the others. "Do you understand?" Ichigo nodded. "Yes." The others nodded as well, and there was a chorus of agreement. Helen rolled her shoulders back and grinned. "Then let's move!" She took off running, and Deneve, Miria, and the other Claymore immediately followed her. The Vizards all looked at Shinji, and he grinned at them. "Let's go get involved in a war." Shinji sprinted after the Claymore, and the Vizards followed him, with Ichigo and his friends falling into step beside them. Running next to Orihime, Ulquiorra was thinking about the coming battle. " _Kurosaki and the others have no idea how strong this enemy is. She may even be stronger then Lord Aizen was._ " He looked at Orihime, running next to him with a determined look on her face. " _I won't fail this time, Orihime._ " On Orihime's other side, Uryu was trying to make a plan for the battle. " _We don't know anything about these monsters. If their rankings are anything like Hollows, then we are about to go against an Espada-level when we have no grasp of their abilities. The chances of us dying… are extreme._ " Uryu shook his head and frowned. " _We aren't going to die. Not here, and not now._ "


End file.
